# Tynemouth Lifeboat Station

Tynemouth Lifeboat Station is located on the River Tyne, at Fish Quay, North Shields, in the county of Tyne and Wear.
A lifeboat was first stationed across the River Tyne in South Shields in 1789, with a second lifeboat placed in North Shields in 1798, both operated by the Tyne Lifeboat Institution (TLI).
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) currently operates a Severn-class lifeboat 17-34 Osier (ON 1263), and a D-class (IB1) Inshore lifeboat Little Susie (D-829).

## History

In the late 1700s, two lifeboats were operated at Tynemouth by the Tyne Lifeboat Institution (TLI), both built by Henry Greathead, to an amalgamated design of both Greathead and William Wouldhave. At the time, the mouth of the River Tyne was particularly treacherous in poor weather, many ships lost, but many lives saved.
Safety would be radically improved in later years, with the construction of the North and South Tyne Piers, building starting in 1854, but only completed in 1910.
The first lifeboat, known as Original, was wrecked in 1830. The Tyne Lifeboat Institution would not have the funds for a replacement until 1833. In 1832, a request for a lifeboat was placed by the Port of Newcastle Shipwreck Association with the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), who supplied a 26-foot Palmer-type non-self-righting lifeboat, arriving in October 1832, to be managed by the TLI. A new boathouse had been constructed at Prior's Haven. The boat was on service for 10 years, until it was badly damaged in 1842, and scrapped.
The Tyne Institution would maintain their fleet of lifeboats, providing 2 new boats and a new boathouse at South Beach, South Shields, in 1841–2. On 4 December 1849, the Tyne Institution lifeboat Providence was launched to the aid to the brig Betsy, which had run ashore at Herd sands. Whilst alongside the vessel, the Providence was capsized. Tyne was launched, and picked up three survivors still holding onto the Providence, and North Shields lifeboat Northumberland rescued the crew of the Betsy, plus one lifeboat man who had managed to get aboard. 20 of the 24 crew of the Providence were lost.
It was as a result of this disaster that Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, of Alnwick Castle, president of the RNIPLS, set a competition for the design of a Self-righting lifeboat, which was won by James Beeching of Great Yarmouth. This design would become the basis for lifeboats for many years afterwards.
In 1862, following a series of shipwrecks in and around Prior's Haven, it was suggested that the (now) RNLI should place a lifeboat at a new station at Prior's Haven. A new boathouse was constructed, and the Constance, a 33-foot self-righting 10-oared lifeboat, arrived in November 1862. The Prior, a TLI boat, was relocated from Prior's Haven to South Beach, South Shields.
Following the wreck of the Stanley in 1864, it was decided to place a second lifeboat at Tynemouth, with the RNLI building a new station at Black Middens. Both lifeboat services would operate alongside each other until the early 1900s, often responding to the same shipwreck, one or other standing by while a rescue was performed. However, in 1905, everything changed when the RNLI placed a motor-powered lifeboat at Tynemouth, followed soon after by the completion of the Piers. A motor lifeboat was far better placed to respond, and fewer rescues were required, with the mouth of the River Tyne now protected. The TLI would be renamed the Tyne Lifeboat Society (TLS) in 1905, maintaining the last of their lifeboats until the 1940s. The RNLI No.2 station was closed.
After some years with the motor lifeboat moored afloat, the RNLI took over a boathouse belonging to the War-office in 1921. It was located right next to the Tyne Lifeboat Society boathouse at Clifford's Fort. The lifeboat was mounted on a trolley, which could be winched up or down a trolley-way. In 1941, bombs dropped in a war-time air-raid destroyed the Tyne Lifeboat house, containing the James Young lifeboat, and the RNLI boathouse, containing the John Pymont (ON 824). A replacement boathouse and slipway would be constructed at the same location in 1947.
To commemorate the centenary of the Tynemouth lifeboat station, a stained glass window, showing a picture of the Original lifeboat, was unveiled by Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland at the Seamen's Chapel of Christ Church, North Shields on 16 September 1962.
1965 would see the arrival of the first Tynemouth Inshore lifeboat, one of the earliest inshore D-class (RFD PB16) boats numbered D-12. When a new All-weather Arun-class lifeboat arrived in 1980, the boat would once again be moored afloat. A replacement station building, housing the Inshore lifeboat, launched with the use of a davit, and a mooring for the All-weather boat were provided in 1997. A 25-knot Severn-class lifeboat 17-20 Spirit of Northumberland (ON 1242) would be placed on service in 1999. After serving 22 years, she would be removed from service, and sent to the RNLI Headquarters at Poole, to be the second Severn-class boat to receive what is known as a SLEP upgrade (Severn Life Extension Programme), to allow a further 25 years of service.
The Tyne lifeboat of the Tyne Lifeboat Institution is restored and on display at South Shields. The Bedford lifeboat of the Tyne Lifeboat Institution has been restored, and is in storage awaiting a suitable display location.

## Station honours

The following are awards made at Tynemouth
* RNLI Gold Medal
       Capt. Herbert Edgar Burton - 1914
       Robert Smith, Coxswain - 1914
* Gold Medals, awarded by the Tynemouth Trust
       The Tynemouth Lifeboat Crew - 1914
* RNLI Silver Medal
       Henry Strachan, River Pilot - 1829
       William Tully, a Pilot - 1832
       T Thorp, storekeeper of the rockets - 1839
       John Cunningham, Rocket Apparatus Superintendent - 1843
       William Wheeler, Thames River Pilot - 1851
       Lawrence Byrne, Chief Officer, H.M. Coastguard, - 1864
       James Gilbert, Coxswain - 1886
       James Gilbert, Coxswain - 1898 (Second-Service Clasp)
       Captain H E Burton - 1913
       Coxswain Robert Smith - 1913
       James S. Brownlee, Second Coxswain - 1914
       Cdr. Basil Hall, RN, Lifeboat Inspector - 1914
       Robert Smith, Coxswain - 1916 (Second-Service Clasp)
       James S. Brownlee, Second Coxswain - 1916 (Second-Service Clasp)
       John Hogg, Coxswain - 1986
* Silver Medal Service Certificate
       Martin Kenny, Second Coxswain - 1986
       John Watson, Motor Mechanic - 1986
       Trevor Fryer, crew member - 1986
       James Griffiths, crew member - 1986
       David Lisle, crew member - 1986
       John Norris, crew member - 1986
* Silver Cup, awarded by HM King of Norway
       Coxswain - 1918
* Silver Medals, awarded by HM King of Norway
       The Tynemouth Lifeboat Crew - 1918
* Medals, awarded by HM King of Norway
       The Crew of the private lifeboat Tom Perry -1918
* RNLI Bronze Medal
       Michael Campbell, Ordinary Seaman, RNVR - 1926
       Edward Selby Davidson, Honorary Secretary of the Tynemouth Branch - 1941
       George Lisle, Coxswain - 1941
       Trevor Fryer, crew member - 1974
       Frederick Arkley, crew member - 1974
* The Maud Smith Award 1986 (for the bravest act of lifesaving during the year by a member of a lifeboat crew)
       Capt. John Hogg, Coxswain - 1986
* The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum
       Trevor Fryer, Helmsman - 1982
* A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
       Martin Kenny, Coxswain - 1998
       Kevin Mole, Helmsman - 2003
       Michael Nugent, Coxswain - 2022
* A Collective Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
       Kevin Mole, Mechanic - 1998
       Geoffrey Cowan, Assistant Mechanic - 1998
       Edwin Chapple, crew member - 1998
       Michael Nugent, crew member - 1998
* Commendations by the Lifesaving Operations Director of the Institution
       Dan Howe, crew member - 2022
       Michael Brown, crew member - 2022
       Rob Blake, crew member - 2022
       Andrew King, crew member - 2022
       Joe Smiles, crew member - 2022
* American Cross of Honour for services and good seamanship
       Major H. E. Burton - 1916
* The Morley Medal of the Outward Bound Trust
       Kenneth Smith, crew member - 1959
* Royal Humane Society's Testimonial on Parchment
       PC Robert Rutherford, crew member, 1959
* Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)
       Kenneth Middlemiss, Honorary Secretary - 1993

## Tynemouth lifeboats
### Tyne Lifeboat Institution

| Name | In service | Station | Comments |
| Original | 1789–1830 | South Shields, Coble Landing | Built by Greathead. Wrecked in 1830 |
| Northumberland | 1798–1842 | North Shields, Clifford's Fort | Built by Greathead |
| Unnamed | 1832–1842 | North Shields, Prior's Haven | RNIPLS lifeboat, 26-foot Norfolk & Suffolk (P&S), managed by the TLI. Badly damaged, and scrapped in 1842. |
| Tyne | 1833–1887 | South Shields, Coble Landing | Built by J Oliver of South Shields |
| Providence | 1841–1862 | South Shields, South Beach | |
| Prior | 1842–1862 | North Shield, Prior's Haven | Transferred to South Beach in 1862 on arrival of RNLB Constance |
| Northumberland | 1842–1884 | North Shields, Clifford's Fort | |
| Prior | 1862–1878 | South Shields, South Beach | |
| Providence | 1862–1872 | South Shields, Coble Landing | |
| Tom Perry | 1872–1938 | South Shields, Coble Landing | |
| Willie Wouldhave | 1878–1947 | South Shields, South Beach | Destroyed by arson, along with the boathouse, 1947 |
| James Young | 1884–1941 | North Shields, Clifford's Fort | Destroyed in a wartime air-raid, 1941 |
| Bedford | 1886–1937 | South Shields, Coble Landing | Built by Lancelot Lambert at the Lawe Building Yard. Fitted with an engine, 1935 |

### Royal National Lifeboat Institution
#### No.1 Station (Prior's Haven)

| ON | Name | In service | Class | Comments |
| – | Constance | 1862–1864 | 33-foot Self-righting (P&S) | Sent for repairs, 1864. |
| – | Robert Whitworth | 1864–1865 | 33-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| – | Constance | 1865–1875 | 33-foot Self-righting (P&S) | Damaged beyond repair, 1875. |
| – | Charles Dibdin | 1875–1888 | 37-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| 204 | Charles Dibdin | 1889–1905 | 37-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |

#### No.2 Station (Black Middens)

| ON | Name | In service | Class |
| – | Pomfret and Goole | 1865–1872 | 32-foot Self-righting (P&S) |
| 216 | Forester | 1872–1900 | 33-foot Self-righting (P&S) |
| 455 | Forester | 1900–1905 | 34-foot Self-righting (P&S) |

#### All-weather motor lifeboats (Clifford's Fort and Fish Quay)

| ON | Op. No. | Name | In service | Class | Comments |
| 343 | – | J. McConnell Hussey | 1905–1911 | 38-foot Self-righting (Motor) | Moored afloat |
| 613 | – | Henry Vernon | 1911–1918 | 40-foot Self-righting (motor) | |
| 646 | – | Henry Frederick Swan | 1918–1939 | 40-foot Self-righting (motor) | |
| 824 | – | John Pymont | 1939–1941 | 41ft Watson | Destroyed in a wartime air-raid, 1941 |
| 646 | – | Henry Frederick Swan | 1941–1947 | 40-foot Self-righting (motor) | |
| 852 | – | Tynsider | 1947–1979 | 46ft 9in Watson | |
| 945 | – | Princess Alexandra of Kent | 1979–1980 | 52-foot Barnett | |
| 1061 | 52-13 | George and Olive Turner | 1980–1999 | Arun | |
| 1242 | 17-20 | Spirit of Northumberland | 1999–2021 | Severn | |
| 1263 | 17-34 | Osier | 2021– | Severn | |

#### Inshore lifeboats

| Op. No. | Name | In service | Class |
| D-12 | Unnamed | 1965 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-49 | Unnamed | 1965–1966 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-50 | Unnamed | 1966–1968 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-144 | Unnamed | 1969–1970 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-172 | Unnamed | 1970–1981 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-280 | Unnamed | 1981–1989 | D-class (Zodiac III) |
| D-385 | Unnamed | 1989–1998 | D-class (EA16) |
| D-535 | The Cromer Smuggler | 1998–2008 | D-class (EA16) |
| D-693 | Mark Noble | 2008–2018 | D-class (IB1) |
| D-829 | Little Susie | 2018– | D-class (IB1) |
* 1 2 3 ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
* 1 2 Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.